adjective

1. using the native language of a country or place a vernacular writer
2. commonly spoken by the people of a particular country or place a vernacular, as distinguished from the literary, dialect
3. of or in the native language
4. native to a country or region the vernacular arts of Brittany
5. designating or of the common name of an animal or plant, as distinguished from the scientific name in Modern Latin taxonomic classification

Etymology: < L vernaculus, belonging to home-born slaves, indigenous < verna, a native slave, prob. < Etr *versna, hearth < verse, fire

noun

1. the native language or dialect of a country or place
2. the common, everyday language of ordinary people in a particular locality
3. the shoptalk or idiom of a profession or trade
4. 1. a vernacular word or term
   2. the vernacular name of an animal or plant